This invention relates to articles used in aiding the teething of children, and in particular, relates to such articles that the child places in his or her mouth and bites upon.
Infant children help new teeth cut through their gums by biting on objects. Articles manufactured for this purpose heretofore have been made of resilient, solid materials such as rubber and plastics or have been made of tough, joined sheet materials enclosing a liquid or gas. In the former case, only the resilience of the bulk material resists the compressive bite of the child to aid teething. In the latter case, the bulk resiliency of the sheet material minimally joins with the resistance to compression of the enclosed liquid or gas to provide the resilience to the compressive bite of the child.
Some examples of these prior articles manufactured to aid teething are disclosed in the following references:
U.S. Pat. NO. Des. 254,860 Chase et al
U.S. Pat. No. 2,809,760 C. M. Clark
U.S. Pat. No. 2,827,055 M.E. Carden
U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,333 Chase et al.
It is desired to obtain an article providing resistance to a compressive bite other than through the bulk resilience of the plastic material used, without having to enclose a liquid or gas that can escape from the article.